The contexts of plausible denial

doi:10.1016/S0022-5371(65)80060-3

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Volume 4, Issue 1, February 1965, Pages 7-11

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(65)80060-3 Get rights and content

Summary

Two hypotheses were tested about the contexts which facilitate response to negative statements. The same series of stimuli, each stimulus consisting of seven similar items and one dissimilar item, was described by two independent groups in differing terms. The dependent variable was the time taken to complete a statement presented immediately after each stimulus had been described. When the stimuli are described in terms of an exceptional item and a residual class, the response to negative statements is facilitated, if these statements deny that the exceptional item possesses the property of the residual class. On the other hand, when the stimuli are described in terms of a smaller and a larger class, no facilitation of response to the corresponding negative statements is observed. It is hypothesized that the determining factor in these results is the way in which the negated property is coded in the descriptions of the stimuli.

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¹: This research was carried out while the author was a Research Fellow in Cognitive Studies at Harvard University, 1962–1963, on leave of absence from the Medical Research Council. The investigation was supported by a grant from the National Foundation (No. NSF G-16486) to Harvard University, Center for Cognitive Studies.

²: I am particularly indebted to Professor George A. Miller for his interest and for a most helpful criticism of the argument. Grateful acknowledgments are also due to Dr. R. J. Audley and Dr. A. R. Jonckheere for thorough discussion of methodological and statistical problems, to Dr. Harris Savin for help with the apparatus, and to Miss Susan Carey for conducting the experiment and assisting with the computation.

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The contexts of plausible denial1,2

Summary

Syntactic structures

Grammatical analysis as part of understanding a sentence

Some psychological studies of grammar

Amer. Psychologist